According to a senior official at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries the government has tighten its inspection on imported fisheries products in several regions which revealed that many were substandard, violating acceptable levels of formaldehyde and water content. It is found that the imported silver catfish with excessive water content was found to be sold for only about US$0.98 per kilogram, compared with US$1.08-US$1.62 per kg for the domestic variety.
As per strict measure all imported fisheries products to be certified as free from disease, to have proper labeling and to have a maximum water content of 20 percent. Saut Hutagalung, the Ministry’s Director of Foreign Trade, opined that they have full support of custom officials to control the flow of imports, making sure that only proper, quality products can enter the country.
He added that his office and the Ministry of Trade planned to issue a new regulation to help control the flow of imports. In addition to ensuring safer and higher-quality products for consumers, the move to tighten supervision of imports was also expected to help stem financial losses for local fishermen and fish farmers, because the substandard products are usually sold for less than domestic products.
